Sword Art Online Interlaced: The Silent Aura
by Finmide
Summary: This is the start of a fan series that will follow a different set of characters who are stuck in the VRMMORPG of Sword Art Online. This series will have appearances of canon characters every once in a while. This features a boy named Yuuto Kasamura, a.k.a. Yukato as he lives life in SAO.
1. Chapter 1

Sword Art Online

Interlaced

The Silent Aura

By: Finmide

[Note: This takes place during the actual series but follows a different set of characters. I do not own Sword Art Online and I never will.]

Chapter 1

The Scrolak boss jumped around as most of the people followed it trying to hit it enough times so that they could get whatever bonus item that it might have on it. The bug like beast howled at its enemies slashing toward them trying to ward off its enemies. The Scrolak was on its last thread of health and any on hit could kill it. However the creature kept jumping away from the players thus preventing it from getting hit. However it didn't anticipate that another player was lurking behind in the shadows. So when the creature landed in front of this player he struck out and got the final hit. The Scrolak shrieked and burst into many shards of light. The other players were disappointed when they didn't get the last hit and started pouting. Meanwhile the player who got the last hit checked to see what his bonus reward was.

"Shroud Cloak" the menu said.

The player put on the white cloak with green details, and noticed that he looked good in it. The player then also noticed that it came with a rare ability. Putting the hood up to test its ability to turn him invisible he smiled and pulled the hood back. Shortly the players were teleported to the next floor, including the great prize winner. Immediately he receded into the shadows putting his hood up yet restricting the invisibility for when he needed it. This player is Yuuto Kasamura a beater and solo player in the world of Aincrad. He ran through the streets so he can get to a spot where he could stay for the night.

Yuuto entered into a motel and tavern building. It was now just filling up with people who had just come from the floor below. Yuuto sat in a table in the dark corner, but the waitress noticed him and walked over with a smile on her face.

"Hello welcome to The Quest Finder inn may I take your order?" she asked.

"Get me food, I don't care what it is just bring me something," Yuuto said in reply.

The waitress immediately ran off to get him something as he sat in the corner alone. Not doing anything he just observed the others in the tavern, looking at people gathered together with friends and guild members enjoying themselves. The waitress brought him some food and he immediately started eating after paying twenty Cor for the small meal. He noticed from some loud laughter that entered the room that a group of three swordsmen from the Knights of the Blood Oath had entered the tavern. The Blood Oath knights where the lead group and they always annoyed Yuuto for their arrogance. That's why he enjoys every chance to prove to some of them that they aren't the best.

He saw that the guild members were heading toward him with a determined looked in there eyes. Yuuto knew what this meant. That they were going to challenge him to a duel. By now he had become famous among the low ranking members of The knights of the Blood Oath. They believe that if they beat him and force him to join the guild that they would get a promotion, probably third in command or something like that.

"Hey, are you the one they call "The Silent Aura"" the lead blood knight asked.

"First of all my name is Yukato, but people do call me that also, what do you want?" Yuuto asked.

Yukato is his username, somewhat a mix between his first and last name. This was his username for all mmo games. However people never seem to remember that, they all just called him the Silent Aura, which meant silent wind. Silent because of how little he talks to people, and wind for his great speed and agility. Agility was the skill he focused on the most, upgrading that first then his perception second which allows him to observe things faster and notice hidden object, this skill also helps when fighting too allowing him to determine a person's move within a few milliseconds and adjust himself to block their attacks.

"Well Yukato I want to challenge you to a duel," the blood knight said so predictably.

"Alright, let's do it," Yukato said getting up and heading to the door.

"What?! where are you going?" the blood knight asked.

"Outside you idiot! Because fighting in here wouldn't be the best conditions for either of us," Yukato said.

The knight thought about it and saw that it made sense and went to follow Yukato so that they might fight. Once outside in the courtyard of the city they stood on opposing sides from each other. The night sky gleamed with stars that seemed endless and unnumbered. The moon was in a waxing crescent tonight shining brighter than it would ever had in the real world. Some times Yukato thought that the creator of this world meant it to be more beautiful than the real world. Like an image of its past before it was ruined by man.

"Alright," The blood knight said, "If I win you will have to join The Knights of the Blood Oath."

"And if I win I get to choose any one item from your inventory," Yukato said.

"Deal," the blood knight said grinning.

Yukato can see it in the knight's face. This man doesn't think he could lose, which that is one of the biggest mistakes a person can make, "Thinking that they are unmatched by the enemy". Yukato however always thinks the opposite, he thinks that every enemy is stronger than him and he needs to find a strategic way to win, a plan on how to survive. He is conscious that he can lose and in this game losing is fatal in every sense of the word, for if he lost he would seize to exist in this world and in the outside world too.

The knight sent a duel request to Yukato and he accepted it. The timer started counting down from sixty, Yukato took out his feeble Iron sword and prepared himself getting in a position where the edges to his blade was diagonal thus not allowing his enemy to determine what move he would make. Once the counter hit zero the blood knight started charging toward Yukato. However Yukato sat there unmoving watching his enemy get closer.

The knight was charging with his sword at chest height with the edges vertically. This meant that he would either do an upward slash, downward slash, or the more likely lunge judging by how close he held his arms to his chest. Yukato could also tell that by how fast this person was running that this particular player focused more on strength and not speed, thus putting Yukato at an advantage because the players own might would throw him off balance if he didn't hit his target. Now Yukato had his plan and slightly adjusted his sword accordingly.

Once the blood knight had gotten close enough Yukato used his sword to push aside the blade of the blood knight causing him to stumble when his sword didn't pierce Yukato but past him. Then with a swift flick of the wrist Yukato's blade faced forward again and the knight impaled himself on the blade, he was in utter shock at what had happened. But Yukato wasn't finished yet, he quickly pulled the blade out and did a quick slash across the blood knights chest and set the knight to the ground. Promptly once the knight's health hit the orange a message popped up saying Yukato won.

The knights were surprised that Yukato had taken out their friend in only two attacks, one being a counter attack. However one of them seemed so hurt by the results he stepped forward and also challenged Yukato, with the same terms as the first knight. Yukato accepted and he waited for the counter to hit zero. This knight held his blade with the edges horizontal, which most likely meant left slash, right slash or lunge. When the timer hit zero he started charging toward Yukato also. From how loosely this one held and how the blade was slightly turned to the right Yukato could tell he was going to slash from the right also because the blade is turned that way so the swing would be faster.

Once this knight got close Yukato did a right to left diagonal upper slash with his sword which cut off the knight's sword hand and making him defenseless. Then lastly with a quick swing he slammed the hilt of his sword into the knight's head and knocked him to the ground gaining victory. Yukato looked at the two beaten swordsmen, and then he looked at the one left standing.

"Do you want to try now?" Yukato asked.

This knight still somewhat scared accepted the challenge, also with the same terms and the counter began to count down. This knight was different because the weapon he took out was a lance. These were different; since they had a long shaft to them they are able to hit targets from greater distances. However Yukato notices that the tip was wobbling a lot which meant this knight was holding it too tightly, so if Yukato hit it just right he could knock it out of the knight's hands. Once the timer hit zero the knight charged a bit but then thrust his lance forward.

To avoid getting hit Yukato jumped into the air and when he landed his foot weighed the spear head to the ground, then with a kick from his other foot Yukato knocked the spear out of the knights hands and it flipped into the air where Yukato grabbed it and then did a one eighty horizontal slash across the knights chest granting Yukato victory.

A little while later after the knights healed fully they completed their end of the bargains and let Yukato have his pick of each of their inventories. From the first knight he picked a valuable sword that the knight had actually bought for a friend, but was now in the possession of Yukato, the second knight had a much needed teleport crystal, and Yukato took the lance from the third one because he would be able to make some profit off of it. After that the knights went on their way back to their Guild home base on the 39th floor settlement of Duwsan.

Satisfied with the duels and his acquisitions Yukato was going to retire to his room when he was approached by another player.

"Sir, I need your help," the player said.

"What is it?" Yukato asked.

"I'm Tosheka of the Running Wolves guild, and my leader had been capture," the blue haired boy informed, "There was always a power struggle in our group and I think she was betrayed to the Laughing Coffins. You need to help me save her."

Yukato stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the word "betrayed", he had bad experiences of being betrayed by those close to you. This was something serious to him; Yukato hated betrayal from the depths of his heart. It was obvious that this man saw the fights with the blood knights. No doubt that gave this person the impression that Yukato could help him.

"I'll help, where is she?"

Yukato and Tosheka walked up toward the eerie barn where Tosheka was told they would be holding the guild leader. Yukato leaned up against the wall and Tosheka followed up. Yukato took a look into the run down building through one of the windows. Turning his head back he looked at Tosheka.

"Now, don't fight back till you get scratched by one of their blades first, okay?" Yukato commanded.

"But why?" Tosheka asked, being puzzled.

"So if it becomes necessary to kill any of them, which I surely hope it doesn't, but if it does the game would count it as self-defense and not murder. That way it won't change your icon color to red. Because having a red icon isn't really favored by the masses of people here," Yukato answered.

Tosheka nodded in understanding as he realized the wisdom in that and got ready for battle. Yukato when he saw that Tosheka was ready kicked the door down with sword drawn and addressed the criminals.

"Alright who wants to get beaten up, oh and also give back the girl," Yukato said.

The criminals smiled as they saw that not one person fell to their trap but two, they each took out their swords and walked toward the hero's.

"Tosheka!" the girl tied to a chair screamed at the sight of her guild member.

"Masami! Are you alright?" Tosheka asked his guild leader.

"I have seen better days," Masami replied.

"Alright, just hang on and we'll get you out," Tosheka said.

The first criminal struck out toward Tosheka who raised his arm and allowed the blade to slash it. Causing a little damage and lots of pain, however he blocked the next slash with his sword. Yukato also allowed the first attack to hit him, but then bringing full brutality down on the criminal, with his quick reflexes he slashed the criminal over and over again not allowing him time to recover until he fell to the ground defeated. The criminals now saw that Yukato was more dangerous and they all gained up on him trying to kill him. This left Tosheka unguarded and he ran to rescue his guild leader.

Tosheka ran behind the chair and started cutting at the ropes with his sword. But soon he realized that the health points of the ropes were regenerating. His sword wasn't cutting them quickly enough. He needed a stronger weapon, so he ran over to one of the unconscious criminals and grabbed his dagger then ran back toward the chair and started cutting at the ropes. It was a slow process because of the regeneration effect placed on the ropes, but h would be able to get it cut if he was patient enough. However one of the criminals saw this and broke off from the group without anyone taking notice.

"How is the rest of the guild?" Masami asked her friend Tosheka.

"Their dead, killed by criminals," Tosheka said.

Yukato was now surround be struck by all sides his health decreasing slowly, He continued slashing at the enemies whenever he got a chance. But there simply were very little chances that allowed him to have a striking opportunity.

"I'm sorry, I failed you as a leader," Masami said to her friend as he cut the ropes.

"You didn't fail us, Passum did," Tosheka replied.

But something happened, Tosheka felt a thud in the back of his chest and then pain followed, he looked at his health bar and saw it drop all the way down to zero. He dropped the dagger as his body burst into the common death animation.

"No!" Yukato screamed as Tosheka died.

Then gathering al his strength he spun in a three sixty and slashed all the criminals and they all disappeared as they died and Yukato threw his sword into the chest of the last criminal which killed him and Yukato went over to the chair with only four points of health left. When he got to the chair he retrieved his sword and cut the ropes. Masami sat there with tears streaming down her face.

"I failed them all, they all died because of me," she wept.

Yukato sighed, "Don't be ridiculous, you didn't fail them. This would only happen if someone was jealous of your skill at being a leader. So if you think about it you didn't fail, but you succeeded so much that people want to kill you," Yukato told her.

"Somehow that doesn't comfort me," Masami said tears flowing from her eyes still.

Yukato had finished cutting the rope and she was now free. Yukato had looked at his health bar and noticed that it healed considerable since the battle where he had almost died a few seconds ago. He was back into the yellow already.

Masami, a black haired girl with icy blue eyes saw she was free but yet she still didn't move. Traumatized that all the people she knew were dead. Her blue armor felt heavy on her shoulders knowing fully well that she could not protect her friends. That she couldn't protect her guild.

"what weapon do you use?" Yukato asked her.

"Oh, um I'm sorry but you wouldn't happen to have a lance on you?" Masami asked.

Yukato went into his inventory; it was convenient that he decided to take the lance from that third blood knight. He found it among the list of unequipped weapons in his inventory menu and he transferred it to Masami. When she received it she immediately equipped it.

"Wow how did you get this? This is an extremely rare lance!" Masami said.

"Well use it because company is coming," Yukato said as he could see a person in the shadows emerge.

This was a hot pink haired boy with orange eyes, his hair was styled back and pressed against his skull. He chuckled and clapped at the two.

"Congratulations, Masami you got everyone killed, well everyone except me," the person said.

"Passum! I'll kill you for this mutiny," Masami screamed.

Passum smiled with snake like lips. His beady eyes looked straight at Masami. His eyes were full of hatred for his guild leader. He brought down his menu and scrolled over to the guild section where he hit leave guild. Now that there was nobody in the guild except Masami she got a menu that the guild was dispersed and no longer exist.

"I'll like to see you try," Passum said evilly as he took out his sword.

Masami full of anger ran out toward Passum. She swung her lance in a motion as to impale him but Passum knocked her blade aside and put a slash across her side. Screaming Masami fell to the ground and clutched her side. Passum was going to make a killing blow when Yukato intercepted the downward slash then swung his sword to the right and cut Passum along his stomach.

Passum was surprised, until he saw who it was he was dealing with.

"Ha Tosheka got The Silent Aura to help him, wow he must have been desperate. I'm surprised he didn't get that beater Kirito or some from the Knights of the Blood Oath to help him instead. Oh well this is going to be fun anyways," Passum said as he licked his lips.

Passum held his sword with blade edges vertically and lunged forward but Yukato seeing this jumped to his right and slashed Passum once as Passum passed him and a second time while Passum was directly behind him slashing Passum on the back. Passum was now in the yellow section of his health. Surprisingly his constitution stat was really high. Yukato turned and saw that Passum was going to take a whack at Yukato's head and Yukato ducked just in time to avoid it.

Passum took another slash which Yukato tried blocking with his iron sword but once Passum's sword made contact, the Iron sword had reached its limit and shattered. Yukato jumped back and was force to equip the sword that he had won from the blood knights which was a nicely made Kris sword.

Passum tried to attack Yukato while he was changing swords but Yukato was quick and blocked Passum's attack when Passum could reach him. The swords clashed and Yukato quickly pushed Passum back and slashed Passum across the chest which nearly killed Passum. This sword was much more powerful than Yukato's iron sword.

Passum stumbles on the ground a bit with fear in his eyes as Yukato stood above him. Yukato kicks Passum's sword to the side out of Passum's reach. Then he brings the blade straight to Passum's face almost pricking him in the nose. Passum definitely wasn't having fun now.

"Leave this girl alone, and never bug her ever again or I will find you and end you," Yukato threatened the boy.

"I swear I won't even come close to her ever," Passum cried.

Yukato sheathed his sword and walked toward Masami who was near the exit. She looked at him with wide eyes surprised that he would let Passum live because she wouldn't have. Yukato just quietly walked past her and she got up and decided to follow him, after all he was her savior. They left the shack and walked out into the wooded area surrounding it.

"So what floor am I on?" Masami asked.

"Thirteen," Yukato answered promptly.

"What floor were you on when Tosheka came to get your help?" Masami asked.

"Forty One," Yukato answered again being quick and to the point.

Masami was quiet for a moment, obviously pondering about how much Tosheka must have cared if he went to such lengths to save her. It only made her feel guiltier that he died. She looked at her savior, the brown hair boy wearing a white cloak with green details. The coat reminded her of a guild.

"Are you a member of the Knights of the Blood Oath?" Masami asked.

"No," Yukato answered.

"Oh your uniform reminds me of theirs, so I thought you might be one," she explained.

"I'll have to change it then," Yukato replied.

The two continued on for a little bit in silence as they were heading back to the town. Where Masami would most likely get dropped off and be left to fend for herself, unless if she did something right now. She quickly pulled out her menu and sent Yukato a party request, which Yukato stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the request.

"Why?" he asked.

"Well you kind of saved my life, the rest of my guild is dead and you're practically the only person I know now, I don't think you can leave me on my own, because I won't be able to make it out there on my own," Masami said.

Yukato thought about it and grunted in annoyance, he was just rescuing a person not befriending them. He had no will to get stuck in a party with them. He pressed the decline button and was about to take another step when another party request came from Masami. He declined it again and as soon as the request disappeared another one popped up. Once again he pressed decline, but the message came back up.

"What's wrong with you? Don't you understand what decline means?" Yukato asked without turning to look at Masami.

"Yeah, but I don't take no for an answer," Masami proud fully said.

Yukato grunted and rapidly pressed the decline button but almost immediately more request were coming up one after the other. Annoyed Yukato noticed that this wasn't going to end till he hit accept, he let out a sigh as he pressed accept.

"Thank you, now to floor Forty Two," Masami said.

"Don't you mean Forty One," Yukato asked.

"Nope, I mean Forty Two," she said as she led the way Yukato was annoyed by her already. She had forced him to join a party and now she expects him to get them to floor Forty Two. Yukato didn't want to get stuck with another person and yet here he was with another player. This was exactly what he didn't want.

"Well I got to stop somewhere first," he said.

In the 13th floor settlement of Frodia Yukato immediately walked over to a small shop stand that was occupied by an African man who was bald with a goatee and two silver earrings in his left ear. Yukato immediately walked up to the man and placed a bag of items on the stand.

"How much?" Yukato asked.

"Whoa whoa, you're not even going to say hello? Just plop items and say "How much?"" the man asked.

"Hello, how much" Yukato corrected himself.

The man chuckled at Yukato's "restatement," he picked up the bag and opened it up to take a look inside. Then he closed it up and brought his attention back to Yukato.

"Come inside and let's have a little talk," the man said and he let the group into a building.

Inside the man's home it was pretty small but enough for comfort. He let them in and closed the door behind the group. The halls were the color of the brown wood from the local spruce forest in the area. The man immediately turned some lights on.

"It's not much, but I have been saving up money for a place on the forty fifth floor, once it's unlocked. I hear it's pretty nice up there. Anyways, what's up with the girl? I would have expected Kirito to get one before you," the man said.

"She's a tag along, apparently because I saved her and she has no guild anymore," Yukato answered.

"Um may I ask who this is?" Masami asked Yukato.

"I'm Agil, local merchant. Buy cheap sell cheap," he said as she shook her hand.

"How do you know each other?" Masami asked.

"Oh he comes by and sells stuff to me, never buys anything, just mainly sells. He's a collector, kills the same monsters over and over again till he has a ridiculous amount of a certain item and he sells them," Agil informed Masami.

"Yeah, well anyways what can you give me for those," Yukato asked pointing to the bag.

Agil dumped the bag onto the coffee table. It was full of tusk and metals. Agil looked carefully at them. Shifting through the various items. Picking up some of them and examining them even closer. He even tried scratching one of the tusks to see how durable it was. When he was done examining he put all the pieces back in the bag.

"I can give you one thousand two hundred Cor for the whole thing," Agil said.

"That's all?" Yukato asked.

"That's all it's worth," Agil said with a stern look on his face.

"Fine, I'll take it," Yukato said.

Agil added the various trinkets to his inventory and took out 1,200 Cor and handed it over to Yukato who added it to his current funds. When Masami saw Yukato's wallet she was shocked.

"Over fifty three million Cor? You could buy anything with that amount of money; you could even buy a home! Maybe two on the lower floors," Masami said with shock.

"Well thank you Agil," Yukato said ignoring Masami's comment completely.

"Do you realize how much money you have?" Masami asked again.

Yukato still ignored Masami still as he headed toward the front door. Masami followed him still trying to get him to understand that he was ridiculously rich at the moment. However Yukato paid no attention to her comments. Once they were back into the shaded streets of Frodia the main settlement of the 13th floor. It sometimes looked a little eerie that there was half a foot of fog on the floor. It was like that throughout the floor. It was especially creepy in the Frodia Woods, where the swamps seemed to be covered in nothing but fog and you couldn't see a single thing. Ironically this floor is one of the most peaceful floors, because there is a small amount of monsters and they are particularly weak for the floor. Usually any deaths that have occurred on this floor were either from other players or from people who wandered too far unprepared.

Yukato then went up to the warp gate and stood in the center of it. Masami followed and stood next to him.

"Teleport, Tusill!" he said and he teleported away.

"Teleport Tusill!" Masami copied and she also teleported to the forty first floor settlement of Tusill.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The two of them arrived in Tusill, the cave city on floor Forty One. Was considerably darker then the floors below since there was no direct sunlight. Many torches lit up the building to make up for the lack of sun. Also strings laced all the houses with paper lanterns, to put a little lighting in the spaces where there was nothing sturdy to hang a light on. Each paper lantern was colored differently resulting in a colorful array of lights throughout the city. The city was now teeming with people everywhere. The smells of food came from the taverns for now players had replaced the original NPC's that were there. People were buying houses and store fronts. Even some soldiers were walking around.

"Wow it's so pretty here!" Masami said in surprise with a smile on her face.

"Follow me," Yukato sternly said as he walked into the crowd.

Masami ran after Yukato to make sure she didn't lose him among the people of the crowd. Yukato weaved his way in between the people until he made his way to a blacksmith shop. Yukato pushed the doors open and Masami quickly ran inside after him. It was much quieter inside; it was almost dead silent which actually made it seem more peaceful. Many different kinds of swords were hung on the walls and put in display cases along with axes and lances and various other weapons.

"Welcome, how may I help you?" a small brown haired girl said when she came from out back.

"I need a new sword," Yukato said, "Oh yeah and I also need a shield."

The smith nodded and directed them over toward the swords and shield combination items. There was a large variety of swords to choose from, and even more shields to choose from also. They came in various shapes and colors. Some of them looked nice while others drabber.

"I don't understand you already have a sword, and you don't use shields," Masami said.

"It's not for me, it's for you," Yukato replied.

"What!? But I use lances!" Masami shrieked.

"Well your horrible at using lances, swords are easier to deal with and more effective," Yukato said.

Masami was full with fury that Yukato would say such a thing like that straight to her face. She didn't like being told that she was horrible with the weapon she specialized in. Plus she disliked that Yukato would try to force her to change.

"What's your best weapon?" Yukato asked the smith.

"Um this one right here," the smith said and she pointed at a shield that was kind of short and very curvy. "It's kind of expensive though, around twenty five thousand Cor."

I'll take it, along with that sword over there," Yukato agreed and pointed over at a thin slightly curved sword that was also in the section.

"Wait do I get any say at what I get?" Masami pouted.

"No" Yukato aptly replied.

"That will be thirty one thousand four hundred and seventy  
two Cor please," the smith said.

"Wait! How much? I could never afford that much even with my entire guilds funds put together!" Masami commented in shock.

Yukato handed the funds over to the smith and the items transferred over to his inventory. He thanked the smith and headed for the door. Masami of coarse followed and they went and found an isolated place they could have to themselves. Yukato then took the shield out and removed the handle.

"What are you doing? That's an expensive shield!" Masami complained.

"Be quiet," Yukato sharply scolded as he took out some leather buckles and started attaching them to the shield.

When he was done he stood up and walked over to Masami and grabbed her arm and pulled it forward. Then he tied the shield buckles around her fore arm and made it tight, which Masami complained that it hurt because of how tight it was.

"It's tight so it won't slide around," Yukato said.

"Why are you putting on my arm anyways?" Masami asked.

"So if you want to guard all you need to do is move your arm, it's much easier that way," Yukato explained.

Masami tested it out and saw that what Yukato said was true. Yukato then handed her the sword and she equipped the sword sheath onto her belt. She pulled out the blade and gave it a few test swings. She seemed amazed at the speed she had with the blade.

"Don't do that," Yukato scolded.

"Don't do what? Swing? I thought that's how you use a sword isn't it?" Masami said sarcastically.

Yukato got closer to her and told her to start an attack, any attack as long as it wasn't a lunge. Masami was a little ticked off right now but she obeyed and got ready to do a slash to her left, but that's when Yukato stopped her. He brought her attention to the blade.

"You have your blade slightly shifted to the right, and the edge is facing the left, that could tell me what attack your doing so I could block it. You want to keep the blade straight and have its edges diagonal so the enemy can't predict you attacks as easily thus giving you an advantage," Yukato instructed her while he adjusted her arm.

"You can figure out what attack a person is going to make depending on how they position their sword? I don't believe it."

"You should, because I used it when fighting Passum," Yukato explained.

Masami remembered that moment and how Yukato easily blocked attacks as if he knew them ahead of time. How quick and seemingly second nature moves quickly lashed out to block incoming attacks. It was a thing that she found impressive about Yukato.

"Attack me!" Yukato said, he now was standing from some distance away with blade drawn.

Masami went to send a duel request, but Yukato stopped her with a sharp "No."

"No duel request, I don't want to accidently kill since it is your first time using a sword and shield," Yukato explained, "If you don't duel request the sword can make contact but won't damage you."

Masami nodded and got ready to attack. She ran toward him ready to do an uppercut at him but the second she swung her attack was blocked and she was knocked to the ground by Yukato's counter attack before she could block. It hurt badly though it caused no damage, and Masami sprawled across the ground as she landed.

"Ow! That hurt," she complained, "I highly doubt a mob is going to be able to do that."

"Really? I learned it from a mob," Yukato replied, "again."

Masami pulled herself up and readied her sword again; she ran at full sprint at Yukato and immediately slashed to her right. However the attack was also blocked and soon Masami found herself on the ground again after Yukato's counter attack. Masami stood up and once again she was told to attack Yukato again. She readied herself and charged at Yukato lunging at him and soon she was hit in the stomach with Yukato's sword and she was on the ground again.

Every time she started the fight she realized that he took advantage of all the defects with each attack and used them against her. When she was told attack again she just simply refused and yielded.

"Good job, you passed the test. Although you probably would have died twice by now," Yukato congratulated, "The first key is to not under estimate your enemy, and to know when they are too strong. Always assume that your enemy is stronger then you and will kill you almost instantly, therefore you don't get wise and lower your guard."

Masami nodded at what Yukato had told her, it made some sense. It taught you to be cautious around everything because anything could be a trap or a device for killing. Just as Yukato finished explaining this a couple of Blood Knights were making their way over to them.

"Hey, blood knights? What would they want with us?" Masami asked.

"Not us, me" Yukato said in frustration as he turned to the blood knights that have approached him.

"So you train you pupils by beating on them?" the lead blood knight asked, and he got an approving chuckle from his friends.

"That is none of your business," Yukato said.

"Fight me!" the blood knight blurted out, "I want to be the one who brings you into guild and you probably know the reward for that."

"There is no reward. You just hope to get rewarded for it," Yukato said, "Anyways wouldn't your superior be upset at you for fighting random civilians?"

"You're not a random civilian, anyways who says the Vice Commander will find out, she's busy preparing for battle," the blood knight sneered.

"Oh the vice commander is in town, that's a surprise. However I don't think I should fight you."

"Why not?" the blood knight blurted.

"Because you're weak," Yukato replied.

"Well I'm stronger then you!" the blood knight said.

"really, okay then lets test that shall we? But first, your wager," Yukato said.

"If I win you join The Knights of Blood Oath, if you win then you can get all the items in my inventory even the weaponI have equipped at this moment!" the blood knight offered.

"Accepted," Really why would he refuse that offer, "what's your name?"

"Jalruck," the blood knight answered.

Yukato sent Jalruck a duel invite and Jalruck accepted. They went to opposite sides of the alley area they were in and took out their weapons. Yukato wielded the kris sword he had won from another blood knight and Jalruck took out a mace. They stood on opposite ends as the timer began counting down.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Maces were difficult, it's almost impossible to read what moves Jalruck would make. However Yukato didn't let Jalruck know that he couldn't read Jalruck. With a straight face Yukato locked back waiting for the timer to hit zero. He gripped his sword tightly ready to strike out once Jalruck got close. His foot shifted because he would have to dodge the heavy mace since the weight will make the sword useless against it if he tried blocking it.

The timer hit zero and this time Yukato actually started running first, something he almost never does in a duel. He ran toward Jalruck across the cobblestone path under the colored lanterns of the cave city. Jalruck raised his weapon ready to strike and swung down to clobber Yukato over the head. However Yukato jumped aside. Yukato lashed out with his blade, but was surprised when it hit metal. Jalruck had blocked the attack.

Yukato jumped back to avoid the following counterattack. Then lunged forward while Jalruck's stomach was exposed. But once again his blade hit metal and was redirected causing him to stumble. However he completed the fall by tucking his legs in and rolling to get out of the way of a counter attack. Yukato took a few steps back and looked as Jalruck stomped toward him ready to strike with his mace.

Yukato jumped out of the way before the heavy spiked ball came down and cracked the floor where it hit sending splinters of stone up in the air. Yukato tried attacking again but yet again his attack was blocked and he barely escaped the counter. Yukato needed a way to defeat his enemy but however he couldn't see one. He was starting to consider that he bit off more than he could chew.

Jalruck swung at Yukato who jumped away again. Swinging quickly and furiously Jalruck continued trying to defeat Yukato. However Yukato kept dodging and jumping back. Yukato tried taking a dagger from his belt and throwing it but even that was block by Jalruck's mace. Yukato then struck out but that was blocked by the mace. This time however he notices that his sword had nicked the maces handle where Jalruck had blocked the blade with it. However because of his paying attention to this he had got hit by Jalruck's counter.

The hit had almost knocked Yukato into the yellow; he was only a few points in the green still. He could hear the other blood knights cheer at this, and he also heard Masami gasp. Yukato got up right before the mace came down and hit where he was on the ground a second ago. Full with determination now Yukato ran out and started slashing furiously at Jalruck, who blocked with his mace.

"Good! Keep blocking!" Yukato thought to himself as he kept slashing the metal handle of the mace. Each time the blades made contact the nick in the mace handle got deeper and deeper. Jalruck couldn't counter because Yukato wasn't allowing him time to. Yukato kept slashing at the ever thinning handle, and he was glad nobody had taken notice of his plan because he could hear the blood knights commenting on the battle.

"He's going to exhaust himself if he keeps doing that," one blood knight said.

"I can just imagine him in the uniform already!" said the blood knight to the other ones left.

Yukato again slashed and nicked the metal, and brought his sword back into another slash. Sparks flew in the air as the two metals clanged over and over again. Jalruck's eyes seemed steady and unmoving as he just blocked the attacks, acting so sure of himself and his ability. He was just hoping Yukato would tire out soon.

Yukato in a furious rage kept slashing at the metal, he had almost made it through and nobody had really noticed yet. Yukato made one more powerful swing and once the blade hit there was a loud snapping sound and the top of the mace fell to the ground where it dissipated into stray data which was cleaned up by the computers system. The crowd, and Jalruck were caught by surprise when the mace broke, maybe even puzzled wondering how that could be possible. Jalruck quickly grabbed to sai daggers from off his belt because he didn't want the system to declare that he had lost. But he didn't grab them in time because he got struck by Yukato's next slash at the throat.

The wound brought Jalruck to one point above yellow, and now he was using the two daggers to block the incoming attacks being dealt out by Yukato. Slash after slash Yukato seemed to never lose his stamina. Now since Jalruck was on the defensive side his companions were less sure of his abilities.

"I hope he doesn't lose all of our stuff," Yukato heard one of the blood knights say.

Yukato started reaching into the deepest strength reserves he had now and lashed out with even greater speed, speeds that looked inhuman. Jalruck was doing just the same except he was using his strength to block the mighty blows of his opponent "The Silent Aura" as he was called among the low ranking members of The Knights of the Blood Oath.

Yukato then twist his body a bit and did an uppercut slash which struck Jalruck right on his pinky finger, which was enough to bring him into the yellow and the Global User Interface or GUI, to declare Yukato the winner. Jalruck was caught by surprise to hear that he lost; he looked at the wound that had given Yukato victory. It was no bigger than a paper cut. It was amazing that such a small thing had brought him defeat.

"I lost, but it was going so well. How did it change so quickly?" Jalruck asked himself.

First the mace broke then a small paper thin cut had brought him defeat. Jalruck was realizing his foolishness in betting every single item he had on this fight. He had been so sure that he would win that he felt like he could risk everything. He had risked everything and lost; now he would have nothing. This was going to be a hard one to explain to his superior officers. Jalruck, having no other choice sent Yukato a trade request, in which he transferred all his items and Cor over to Yukato.

Yukato looked through the list; his inventory had tripled in size. This really meant that Jalruck was not just holding his stuff but all the items of everyone in his small brigand of blood knights. They probably would despise their brigand leader now since he lost their stuff, because there was some really valuable stuff in there

"What is going on here!?" a loud voice screamed.

All the blood knights drew their attention to the source of the voice, which an orange haired girl was dressed in the same style of clothing as the other blood knights. At the sight of her the blood knights grew fearful, because of that fact Yukato immediately understood that she was the Vice Commander of the blood knights.

"Vice Commander Asuna! What are you doing here?" Jalruck asked in shocked.


End file.
